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The theory of symbolic management suggests that there is a pervasive separation between appearances and reality in organizational behaviour and strategic management. This book develops symbolic management into a major theoretical perspective on governance to provide a compelling alternative to agency theory.

The theory of symbolic management reveals a pervasive pattern of 'symbolic decoupling' - a separation between appearances and reality - at every level of the governance system. At each level the processes of governance are less efficient or effective than they appear; from interpersonal relations within organizations such as those between CEOs and directors, top managers and lower-level employees, to relations between firm leaders and external stakeholders such as journalists and security analysts. There is even a separation between appearances and reality at the level of the governance system itself. In this book, James Westphal and Sun Hyun Park develop symbolic management into a major theoretical perspective on governance. Not only does symbolic management provide a compelling behavioral alternative to economic perspectives such as agency theory, but it subsumes economic theory. Agency theory is reconceived as a historically contingent institutional logic that became taken for granted among corporate stakeholders for a period of time and eventually replaced by a new logic of governance. Through a body of extensive empirical research Westphal and Park demonstrate how the symbolic management activities of firm leaders have contributed to this historical shift in prevailing logics of governance, and present a warning to regulators, investors, and the general public.

정보제공 :

1: Introduction to the Symbolic Management Perspective
Section I: The Major Forms of Symbolic Management
2: Symbolic Management of Policy and Structure
3: Symbolic Management of Process
4: Symbolic Management Beyond the Firm Level
Section II: The Social and Psychological Determinants of Symbolic Management
5: The Multi-stage Social Influence Process in CEO-Board Relationships
6: Social Network Ties and Symbolic Management
7: Social Influence Processes In Leader-Stakeholder Relations
8: Group-level Social and Psychological Processes that Support Symbolic Management
9: The Social Psychological Dynamics of Symbolic Management
10: Conclusions, Future Research Directions, and Policy Implications